Hehe, I know they're technically video games, but they're so text heavy they might as well be books themselves! I love 'em! And I want more!
I've got this especially weird one, you see. It's very raunchy, violent, tedious, odd and drenched in sexy style. It's called the The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, and it's a very Suda51 game.
In world where everyone is a clone of a particular serial killer, it's your job to keep the lambs in line.
I can't say 25th is a terribly fun game. There's this awful suifuel part where you are forced to knock on random doors, no information or strategy whatsoever, for probably an hour straight. That's sinful. That's cruel. So cruel, in fact, that the characters themselves complain about the whole shebang right along with me.
But I made it through that hour. Because shit, this game game has flavor. The text boxes pop up kind of disjointed all over the screen like weird thoughts passing by, the artistic mediums will randomly change, you've got this cold, unfeeling world full of sociopaths and weird fetishes and gay furries and death and murder and a language that hits somewhere between amusingly edgelord and hedonistically badass. Nobody here is anywhere near a good person, you see-- But they are all, for the most part, extremely likable. I'm partial to the genki-genki boyo who has a habit of popping caps in people's pituitaries.
It plays like lead but reads like a firecracker. 'Nuff said.
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There's a better known, much friendlier game I've had the pleasure of getting my grubby little fingies on, and that's the pleasantly podunk Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Charming, relaxing point-and-click packed with character.
A burnt-out police detective stays in a dusty little mid west hotel, haunted by his partner's death.
Hotel Dusk hit it out of the goddam stratosphere with it's writing. 25th is excellent, don't get me wrong-- The badass "it's time to rock and roll, dickhead" style one-liners give me a fast and furious rush like no other-- but Dusk gives me such a comfy, home cooked feel I was smiling the entire time. Kyle Hyde is tired. He's a little grumpy and a kind of halfway done with everything. He really likes mayonnaise. You'll undoubtedly gain an immense affection for his character, whether it's through his slight snark with the goofy residents or his self-questioning when sticking his hand down a dirty motel toilet.
The animations do wonders for te expressiveness as well. Every character has a hand-drawn, rotoscoped portrait that plays like a moving Sunday comic of sorts.
I heard there's a sequel, although apparently only in Europe. I don't care. I'm hooked now, and I intend to see this man to the end.
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And third on our list is a little known DS game called Sprung--
Uh...Yeah, maybe we should gloss over that one.
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Those are some of my favorite visual novel type things right now (I've played many more, but I'm afraid they fall more into the "Ugu Love Plus" side of things) and I'm honestly interested in finding more of this flavor. There's a lot of anime ones out there, but I'm hoping for something different....
I'm a sucker for point and clicks. Flower, Sun And Rain seems interesting, but knowing it's Suda51 again, it's probably going to hurt. I'd prefer to hurt slightly less.
